A two-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped by her father's truck driver friend in Madhya Pradesh's Indore, and the accused was later arrested by the police, an official said on Friday.
The incident occurred during the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday, he said.
"The accused, a father of two children including a 10-year-old girl, had come to meet the victim's family on Wednesday evening. At night, when the girl was asleep with her parents at their house, he silently took her away to a deserted place. He raped her there and later escaped from the spot, leaving her behind alone in an injured condition," Additional Commissioner of Police Prashant Choubey told PTI.
Two home guards - Rohit Parmar and Abhinav Sen - who were going to office, spotted the toddler crying on CAT road, nearly three kms away from her house, he said.
"They lifted the bleeding girl and started looking for her parents. They informed their seniors about it. The duo soon came to know that the parents of the victim had lodged a missing person's report at Chandannagar police station," the ACP said.
Soon, the girl's parents were contacted and their daughter was handed over to them. They took her to a hospital, where it was found that the girl was sexually assaulted, he said, adding that the child then underwent surgery and her condition is now stable.
The police launched an investigation and went through the CCTV footage of the area in order to trace the accused. In the images, they found a truck and its driver hanging around near the victim's house. The girl's father also identified the truck driver as his friend, a resident of Tanda in Dhar, Choubey said.
When contacted, Chandannagar police station in-charge Abhay Nema said the accused was arrested near Pithampur while he was on his way to Tanda on Thursday and he confessed to his crime.
He has been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including rape, and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act, he added.
